5 THINGS: Flyers @ Red Wings

Interim head coach Mike Yeo's Philadelphia Flyers (15-23-8) are in the Motown on Saturday to take on Jeff Blashill's Detroit Red Wings (21-21-6) in a matinee game. Gametime at Little Caesars Arena is noon Eastern time (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).

On Wednesday, the Red Wings skated to a 6-3 victory over the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. The bright spot for the Flyers was that the team scored on the very next shift three times in response to Detroit tallies.
In the first period, Detroit goals by Dylan Larkin (24th goal of the season, PPG) and Lucas Raymond (12th) were each responded to on the net shift. Isaac Ratcliffe (1st NHL goal) and Travis Sanheim (3rd) respectively tied the score at 1-1 and 2-2. In the second period, Pius Suter (11th) and Robby Fabbri (13th) built a 4-2 edge for the Red Wings. Scott Laughton (8th) immediately narrowed the gap to 4-3. The Flyers had power play chances but were unable to pull even by the end of the period. Givani Smith (4th) added an insurance goal as Detroit opened a 5-3 lead in the third period. Vladislav Namestnikov (13th) tacked on an empty net goal in the final minute of the game.
Carter Hart yielded two goals he'd ordinarily stop among the five that eluded him on 33 Detroit shots. Alex Nedeljkovic got the win, needing to make only 21 saves on 24 shots.
Here are five things to watch in Saturday's game:
1. Flyers Power Outage
Dating back to the Jan. 1 game, the Flyers are a mere 5-for-44 (11.4 percent) on the power play. There are only two NHL teams that rank below the Flyers in that span: the Seattle Kraken (5-for-49, 10.2%) and Arizona Coyotes (3-for-50, 8.0%). In Wednesday's game against the Red Wings, the Flyers went 0-for-5 on the power play and generated very little attack in doing so.
In Friday's practice in Voorhees, the top power play unit remained the same: Claude Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, Cam Atkinson and Ivan Provorov. Rasmus Ristolainen is out for Saturday after getting banged up in Wednesday's game. Ristolainen was part of the PP2 unit last game. At Friday's practice, Scott Laughton was moved onto PP2. The rest of the unit remained the same as in the last game: Derick Brassard, Oskar Lindblom, Gerry Mayhew and Keith Yandle.
The Flyers recalled Jackson Cates on an emergency basis late on Friday afternoon. If he is pressed into playing service on Saturday, he will step in on the bottom six of the lineup. Here is how the Flyers' practiced on Friday.
23 Oskar Lindblom - 28 Claude Giroux - 89 Cam Atkinson
25 James van Riemsdyk - 21 Scott Laughton - 11 Travis Konecny
20 Gerry Mayhew - 19 Derick Brassard - 71 Max Willman
76 Isaac Ratcliffe - 82 Connor Bunnaman - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 61 Justin Braun
6 Travis Sanheim - 8 Kevin Connauton
3 Keith Yandle - 24 Nick Seeler
79 Carter Hart
[35 Martin Jones]
2. Speed and Competitiveness
There are a lot of young, talented players on the Red Wings roster. Overall, Detroit is also one of the faster-skating teams in the NHL (although playing with discipline and structure has been spotty). In Wednesday's game, the Flyers were noticeably outskated by the Red Wings as well as outworked; a bad combination. The Flyers spent too much of the night defending. Correspondingly, the Flyers mustered only 24 shots on goal for the game and were outshot in all three periods (15-11, 11-8, 8-5 with the Flyers stuck on three shots until late in the final period).
This was not because Detroit played stifling defense and there was little time or space, ala Barry Trotz's New York Islanders when that team is on its game. Actually, the Red Wings had some egregious turnovers and were hardly airtight in coverage. But what the Red Wings did well on Friday was beat the Flyers to pucks, win most of the 50-50 battles get to open areas and generally prevent the Flyers from possessing the puck in the first place.
Not surprisingly, the Flyers next practice after Wednesday's game featured a significant emphasis on competitive battle drills (on the walls, one-on-one) and players moving their feet rather than being stationary.
3. Inside the Numbers
Entering Saturday's matinee, the Flyers are -20 at five-on-five (80 GF/ 100 GA) while the Red Wings are -14 (92 GF/106 GA). For the season, the Flyers rank 24th in 5-on-5 goals against, while Detroit ranks 27th. On a leaguewide basis, only one team in the NHL's bottom 12 in 5-on-5 goals against is currently in playoff position: the Vegas Golden Knights (97 GA). Vegas has also scored 111 goals at 5-on-5 entering the weekend, so they are nonetheless +14 in their goal differential.
Looking only at the games played since Jan. 1, the Red Wings have an all-situations -11 goal differential (46GF/ 57GA). The Flyers are -23 in that span (34 GF/ 57 GA).
4. Behind Enemy Lines: Detroit Red Wings
Troy Stecher is a game-day decision for Saturday. Stecher underwent wrist surgery in late November but is now practicing with the team. Veteran defenseman Nick Leddy is day-to-day but practiced in a non-contact jersey on Friday. Jakub Vrana remains on IR but is practicing in a non-contact jersey. Filip Hronek is in COVID-19 protocol.
Potential starting lineup if Stecher plays:
11 Filip Zadina - 71 Dylan Larkin - 23 Lucas Raymond
59 Tyler Bertuzzi - 24 Pius Suter - 14 Robby Fabbri
92 Vladislav Namestnikov - 27 Michael Rasmussen - 73 Adam Erne
48 Givani Smith - 90 Joe Veleno - 89 Sam Gagner
65 Dan DeKeyser - 53 Moritz Seider
18 Marc Staal - 70 Troy Stecher
82 Jordan Oesterle - 28 Gustav Lindström
39 Alex Nedeljkovic
29 Thomas Greiss
PP1: Larkin, Bertuzzi, Fabbri, Raymond, Seider.
PP2. Rasmussen, Erne, Suter, Zadina, Oesterle.
5. Players to Watch: Provorov and Seider
With the Flyers blueline being a patchwork unit, it is likely there will be a lot of juggling of pairings and personnel in Detroit. For example, Ivan Provorov could see some shifts with Justin Braun and others with Travis Sanheim. Regardless of combinations, Provorov will log monstrous ice time on Saturday with Sanheim and Braun also shouldering heavy loads.
Twenty-year-old defenseman Seider has been one of most impressive blueline rookies across the NHL this season. He played an excellent game in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening, and will look to build further off it in the rematch at Little Caesars Arena.